Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1887-10-25
THE FEAR OF SNAKES,
NYM CRINKLE WRITES A CHAPTER
ABOUT THE OPHIDIANS.
Steele Mackaye's Theory of Snake Charm
inc-The Psychic Side of a Serpent's
Character-One of Mackaye's Snake
Seances--The Danger Of Pooling.


Steele Mackaye is the only man that have
ever met who has made rational study of
serpentology. 1t is true enough that | do
not agree with him in all his conclusions as
will explain presently, but | must acknowl-
edge his accumulation of knowledge and the
pbilosopbic spirit with which he has investi-
potad what may be called the mystic side of
the ophdian.
Here let'me say that have an antipathy to
tbe serreut-not unusual, but which is ut
terly beyond the control of my will or reason
| do not think that am devoid of the quail
ity which pass by the name of physical
courage. On more than one occasion have
confronte,, dog which had every reason
to believe was rabid and from which other
men ran away: but on the sudden appearance
of n snake a sensation Of dread and weakness
overcome me that is unacrountable and ire
sistible Once. when climbing some rocks
with NV boy in the Great South Park, we
came UNEXPECTEDLY upon a rattlesnake coiled
with his head aud I7,t1leS in the air about
three feet above Us | nov know, aud wish
to confess it, that for the first time in my life
Iexpariencei the rartial sensation If faint
ing Nv boy killed. tine serpent uncOncern-
edly. but w1S uuiitret tor the journey for
an hour.
THIS str,n.4 fear s Il, have said, bg no
means uncommon have encountered it
among all cia~-.s "f men. and have even OBJ
served it amcug frrutierSnen, who had been
unable by years Of experience in snake i'll
Tested districts t. overcome it. Whether this
is a coneeniaI autipathy ard the result of in
herited prpildI'es or is self made from early
impressions and subsequent imaginmgs is an
open question
PHYSICAL MYSTERY.
Mr.. Markave holds that it is the. inherited
result of the Mysticism that has surrounded
the serpent from the lime Of Moses, and that
It can be Overcome l,y a mere exercise of the
will and Familiarity with the snake.
Here take issue with him | am inclined
to believe that the universal fear and horror
inspired by the serpent have psychic cause
not vet explained and that this terror reaches
its maximum in certain organizations quite
independently of their associations and train
ing. No one who has seen horse trembling
throughout his frame and breaking into a cold
sweat at an ordinary black snake in the road,
or, to take still better example, no one who
has seen bulldog, the most courageous and
least sensitive of all the canine tribe, SILVER
and put his tail between his legs at the sniff
of a b .rmlesS garter snake, can have failed to
wonder at the mysterious dread which ap-
pears to run all through the animal kingdom
or at least all the domeSticated part of it
with the single exception, il | am to believe
common rural superstition of the hog
Most of my renders who have Travelled in
the southwest are familiar with the repug-
nant experiments Of the frontersmen OF cut
ting the head from a fresh killed rattlesnake
and coiing the decapitate,l body on the topof
barrel to see the involuntary muscular con-
fractions initiate the striking act of the live
serpent But the remarkable part of this
disgusting experiment is. that not one man in
ten has sufficient nerve TO hold his hand up
and let the heailess body strike at it.
PAINTING FIT.
About three years ago | saw a great,
brawny man in BunnelTS museum topple over
in the crowd He was carried out, as was
then supposed, in a dying condition, and
water poured over him in the lobby. When
an ambulance arrived he had recovered suf-
ficiently to explain the cause of his fainting
fit, and he attributed 1t to the serpent exhi-
bition made by the woman who put the
pythons round her body l took pains to
learn something of his antecedents. and found
that he had been a soldier and noted for his
bravery and courage.
l could multiply these instances to any ex-
tent, but what l want to say is that l never
met anybody who had this antipathy more
unreasonably developed than myself
Some ten years ago Steele Mackaye had
some literary work to do in which was
collaboration, and he invited me to his house
in Stamford for week. Anna Dickinson
had told me something about his snake Sc
ances, but had forgotten all about it, and
arrived there in the evening and was con-
Quoted to his study. Imagine my horror as
stood At the partly open door. and, looking
In, saw my friend seated Mt a writing table
in the middle of the room, having for a COM
panion nm eighteen foot South American boa,
the body OF which was partly on tie floor,
while the flattened head, with its little lidless
eyes, lay W thin a foot Of the manuscript
upon which Mnckaye was working.
The effect Of this upon me was Instantly
apparent TO Mackaye, who jumped up
and began 10 uphraii me for giving way
to what he called an entirely irrational weak
ness He appealed to my philosophy, to my
will, 10 my manhood. Pointed out to me that
my terror was a childish one, ungrounded i'll
sense, and that the healthy intelligence over
came it.
A SUBTLE, SCREENING 0DOR
No one hut myself can know how vain
were all these appeals. | distinctly remem-
Der that the moment ! put my head in that
door my sense was attracted by that strange,
subtle and sickening od0r which emanates
from the ophidian, and TO which some organ
izations are 50 susceptible Its effect upon me
is not unlike that OF sulphuretted hydrogen
gas, producing sensations of vertigo, accom-
panied by that Illusion of surface GOODNESS
which is produced on the gustatory nerves by
peppermint.
a will show you,r said Mackaye, shat
your fears are unworthy of you, and con-
vince you in five minutes that the serpent, so
far from being a malignant, dangerous
enemy, is simply an unvOlitional spinal sys-
TEN, without cerebru.l, and subject abso-
lutely to rhythm of sound and motion"
He then began a series of Delsartian exper-
iments with his snake as / stood shrinkingly
at the door with my hand upon the knob He
made sinuons and graceful passes with his
WILSON'S of a serpent describing beautiful
and graceful curves that seemed to pass from
his shoulder along a flexible humerus to the
metacarpal extremities.
The action apparently soOthed the reptile,
for it simply moved its fiattened head in a
swaying, sympathetic motion and allowed
Mackaye to grasp it gently at the neck and
guide it wherever he pleased
you can see. he said. "fOr yourself that
the animal is soothed by rhythmic motion.
Now viii prove to you that unrhythmic mo-
ton iriTtates it, and 50 does unrhythmic
sound
tie then began new series of singularly
ungraceful and spas:nodic actions with his
hand, which were not violent, and the
serpent began to raise his head and dart out
bis black, forked tongue.
AN OLD RATTLESHAKE.
Some months afterwards / saw Mackaye
go through this same experiment with an old
pennsylvania rattlesnake IN a wire cage at
what was then the aquarium on broadway.
lie thrust his hand in at the. Little wire cage
ana did the soothing business again, to the
horror OF Tode Hamilton and an Indian
shake charmer, who were, with myself, the
only witnesses. You must remember that the
snake was a veteran, and as full Of venom as
an egg Is full of meat Irritation in his case
meant sudden and certain death.
When Mackaye had demonstrated his com
plete power over the animal, he withdrew his
arm, closed the wicket and began upon the
outside OF the cage quietly irritating system
OF gestures. In incredibly short snacs of